1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display control apparatus, a recording/reproduction system, and a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there are recording/reproduction systems for recording images of objects captured by a camera and then reproducing the recorded images. In these conventional recording/reproduction systems, in order to effectively reproduce a desired image from among the recorded images, it is known to store event information related to motion detection or a sensor in association with an image or an event occurrence time. With such recording/reproduction systems, it is possible to display an image that was recorded at a certain event occurrence time based on event information selected by a user.
There are also recording/reproduction systems that can not only start recording when an event occurs, but can also record images before an event occurs. Such recording/reproduction systems are configured so as to be able to later display an image from before an event occurred as well, as necessary. Furthermore, with conventional recording/reproduction systems, it is possible to also record audio along with images and to reproduce recorded audio in synchronization when reproducing recorded images.
In recent years, event generation using image analysis technology has been performed due to advancements in image analysis technology and increases in the speed of central processing units for performing image analysis processing. The purposes and types of events have diversified, examples of which include removal detection for generating an event when an object has been carried away and abandonment detection for generating an event when an object has been left unattended.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-166322 discloses technology in which, in order to effectively reproduce a desired image from among recorded images, it is determined whether audio is to be reproduced in synchronization in accordance with the type of event, and in the case where audio is to be reproduced, it is determined at what volume the audio is to be reproduced.
Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-260862 discloses technology in which thumbnail images are generated from recorded images and displayed, a displayed thumbnail image is selected, and the image corresponding to the selected thumbnail image is reproduced. Displaying thumbnail images in this way enables reproducing a target image with an understanding of changes over time in the images.
With all of the above-described conventional technology, image reproduction is performed in the direction in which time elapses from when an event occurred or an image corresponding to a thumbnail image.
However, depending on the type of event, there are cases where even if images at and after the time when an event occurred are viewed, an image truly desired by the user is not included among them. For example, in the case of the above-described abandonment detection, specifying the person who left an object unattended requires checking images while tracing back in time from when it was detected that the object was left unattended. In view of this, there is the problem that the user needs to think of an image reproduction method according to the type of event when performing operations.
An object of the present invention is to provide a recording/reproduction system for reproducing a desired image in a short time without burdening the user.